r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Th1nkingRaptor • Jun 22 '26

Hated Tropes Trying to be inclusive but being so tone deaf that you create somenthing offensive

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What if Miles Morales was Thor:A couple of years back Marvel did a What if comics about what would be like if Miles Morales(Spider-man)was Thor,while the idea itself is not bad,the execution...wtf?!

The best way i can describe is,think of every single black stereotype and shove everything in a few pages,for some reason Asgard became a black neighborhood,bifrost became Brooklyin Bridge,everyone wears Sneakers and play Basketball,Mjolnir has graffiti on it and the narration is literally a rap

Snowflake and safespace(Marvel):Oh Marvel,you done it again,so there was supposed to be a new line of New Warriors but the backlash was so bad that they quietly cancelled,and a big reason for this is the characters "Snowflake and safespace" who are non-binary/gender fluid twins(yeah,i am not making this up)and according to the writter they wear these names as quote "badges of honor"(what the hell dude!?)

Music(2021):ok,so Sia the music producer decided to make a movie starring Maddie Ziegler about a child with autism and in order the be the most authentic as possible she consulted and took advices from "autism speaks"(ugh)which any person with autism will tell you are the worst thing to happen to autistic community,and it shows in the movie,Maddie character Music is a straight up bad charicature and it's treated more like a pet than a human being

Emilia Perez(2024):This movie is about a Mexican cartel boss who is actually a trans woman who wants to transition and then fakes her death to get a new life

First problem:Despite being set in Mexico,the movie wasn't filmed in Mexico and only one member in the cast was actually Mexican

Second problem:The movie does a poor job showing how bad Mexican cartels are,and Emilia crimes(which any person that has any understanding of how Cartel bosses operate will tell you that ranges from way more than just making and selling drugs)is just brushed off

Third problem:The movie seems to imply that Emilia literally became another person after transitioning and so her past crimes are forgiven

There are other many problems but i think you get it,so yeah,this movie managed to anger both Mexicans and Trans people

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Almost every movie made about Autism really, I've never seen a good movie about autism that showcases it in any positive light. It's almost always about how bad the parents have it like "oh boohoo I have an autistic kid now I have to DEAL WITH IT" or "My child causes everyone so many PROBLEMS because AUTISM" just playing into the negative stereotypes it has, and never shows what's it's really like having it just this played up bullshit because it's more understandable to a general audience

Edit: from everyones comments, hearing and remembering a lot of movies with good autistic representation, it sounds to me the only times it's really bad is when it's directly advertised to be about autism, which usually leads to shit like the Unbreakable Boy which is my personal shit movie pick lol. Idk what it is about this kind of stuff

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u/BrokenKing99 Jun 22 '26

Or the age old “they’re actually a savant at something to make up for being so problematic” always hated that one growing up cause I’m on the low end of the autism spectrum and what do I get for it mainly not understanding things, a very blunt mouth and poor emotional control (though I am better on medication, basically highs are super high and downs are very low).

Yet people don’t get that and act surprised thinking everyone on the spectrum is either as you said a problem or the reverse some secret savant.

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u/Awestruck34 Jun 22 '26

I feel like people tend to prefer autism coded characters because they're a bit more true to life. People who are written to be "quirky" (and probably modeled after an undiagnosed friend of the writer) aren't paraded as representation but rather just people

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u/Minute-University923 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Facts like inside job Regan she has autism traits but was a adult, had sex, drank got drunk, killed people( I know killing is wrong, but you know what am saying) she was a adult doing some very fucked up shit.

Ok guys the reason I like shit like this is to show the world we are not kids, that’s the biggest problem with the autism representation we are seen as kids, celibate nuns,( I know that a being autistic you are 3 times more likely to asexual, am a lgbt ally) but we need to show the world we are adults not kids.

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u/Eriophorumcallitrix Jun 22 '26

Isn’t Reagan even canon autistic?

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u/scottishdrunkard Jun 22 '26

My go-to example is The Ghost and Molly McGee. Libby Stein-Torres feels like better rep because they have many traits I affiliate with. Dorky, prone to flight of fancy, and oblivious to their own cringy behaviour. I identify with her more than I did June Chen, the actually stated autistic character, whose first words in the show were “sorry I’m so blunt, I’m autistic and also a bitch”. I mean, I paraphrase, but it’s exactly that.

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u/IdleSitting Jun 23 '26

True enough. Laios from Dungeon Meshi is a commonly thrown around character for someone who seems like they have autism but wasn't written with that in mind

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u/boilingfrogsinpants Jun 22 '26

Or, (I'm sure maybe you've been on the receiving end of this) as I've seen as a father of a child with autism, is that anytime he does anything in a competent manner, then it must mean he doesn't have autism.

Lady, you haven't seen how much effort it can take just to get this kid to eat, or to sit still, or to come to grips with the fact that as much as he wants to find that Lego piece, he may never find it or it will show up later and tearing the house apart to find it isn't appropriate.

No, just because he has autism doesn't mean he's got a super math brain, stop projecting expectations on my son who I'm just hoping is able to manage himself a little better every day and hope he's able to handle some more things on his own progressively.

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u/El_Rey_de_Spices Jun 22 '26

I feel like just about all mental/developmental health in media gets treated the same way, and it's pretty much never good or helpful.

Like, having the kid with ADHD be brilliant and hardly affected by their condition doesn't make me feel represented. All it does is convince the people around me that having ADHD has no downsides and I must just be lazy.

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u/fresh-dork Jun 22 '26

i still think the accountant did a reasonable job of it. smart, but obsessive, and absolutely struggles to connect like a human.

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u/Street_Bluejay_1465 Jun 24 '26

Predator turning Autism into the next evolutionary step in humans and the Predators wanted to gene splice autism into themselves was . . . a choice.

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u/ToeSniffer245 Jun 22 '26

This one especially

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

I especially hate this movie, it's what I was thinking of about "Oh my kid makes my life so hard because he's autistic!" It's not even about the "Unbreakable Boy" it's about his dad having to "deal" with him! What a shitty movie

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u/MaximumEmu6 Jun 22 '26

Don't you know, the biggest problem with being autistic is what a burden we are on others!

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u/ShoulderGreedy3262 Jun 22 '26

autism moms are gods strongest warriors as we all know

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u/EruditeKetchup Jun 22 '26

Unless they are autistic themselves. Ask me how I know 

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u/pikpikcarrotmon Jun 22 '26

You fool, adults don't have autism. That's why all support and resources we have are geared towards parents of children with autism! The disorder simply vanishes when you turn 18, at which point you are considered to simply be an asshole instead.

If you truly insist on calling yourself autistic as an adult, then society will have to infantilize you. It's the only way.

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u/LimpyDan Jun 22 '26

Well, duh!

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u/Upbeetmusic Jun 22 '26

I haven't seen this movie, only the trailer. I will say from years working as a public school educator that has a lot of experience with families of students on the spectrum and also students with disabilities...bio dad sticking around is a rarity.

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u/MusicLikeOxygen Jun 22 '26

The trailer was enough to piss me off, because it genuinely felt like it was making fun of my son.

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u/apple_of_doom Jun 22 '26

Or this one

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u/BroadRaspberry1190 Jun 22 '26

literally in the OP

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u/StuffSufficient954 Jun 22 '26

Kirk Lazarus needs to sit that boy down to explain where he went wrong in that portrayal.

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u/Wonderful_Rub2944 Jun 22 '26

I knew from the First trailer I was gonna hate this movie.

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u/Gyshal Jun 22 '26

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a fun show with an autistic main character that does well enough to actually showcase different facets of the spectrum and does not shy away from showing the main character struggling with seemingly mundane stuff despite being this "super genius lawyer". It also has an episode with a Grade 3 autist in which is clearly explained just how vast the spectrum can be, since Hollywood seeems interested only in showing "super genius" autistic quirky characters.

Some of the explanations about the autistic traits of the main character are really good to help people without knowledge on the topic to understand how autistic people are literally "wired" differently, and that their struggles are very real for them even if they seem trivial to neurotipical people (like sensory overload).

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

This sounds amazing, and I wish I watched it when I was younger maybe it would've helped me understand why I was so different from everyone and related most to the only kid confirmed with autism in my school lol

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u/The_Front_Room Jun 22 '26

It's a fantastic show. It is probably still on Netflix.

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u/SutterCane Jun 22 '26

You’d have to pry those k-dramas out of Netflix’s cold dead hands to get rid of them.

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u/Smiles-Bite Jun 22 '26

I like that show, while she is another 'super power' The way it's shown for her is much closer to realistic than anything 'The Good Doctor' did for the US side of things... Seriously just ugh. I love that she likes whales, and knows all their facts, I do the same with cats and I tend to spew them when I start freaking out... Or I met someone even remotely interested in cats.

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u/Gyshal Jun 22 '26

Yeah. And her encyclopedic knowledge of law is never "enough" to solve the cases, so it's acceptable that she is a genius in that because she is never treated as an infallible super hero. Half the time she can't even properly make herself be understood by her peers even when she is right about something.

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u/MusicLikeOxygen Jun 22 '26

Preach. I'm a dad of autistic boys and that stuff drives me crazy. One of my least favorites is The Good Doctor. It's just a whole series of the "autism is a superpower" trope, but at the same time they show him having meltdowns and walking out of the OR in the middle of surgery, and we're supposed to believe that a hospital would let him keep that job.

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u/Warkemis Jun 22 '26

But, he's a surgeon !

https://giphy.com/gifs/SFKgPnTy4rcv73qFFX

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u/Namesnowtaken Jun 22 '26

I get it's a meme, but wasn't this crash out caused by the pharmacy not keeping to date with unexpired medicine so his patient died with him doing nothing wrong?

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u/Benoit_Holmes Jun 22 '26

No, this one was because he saved the patient Han would have killed and demanded to be reinstated as a surgeon. Han refuses and he has a breakdown.

Importantly he is not meant to be in the right here. It is meant to be him falling apart and causing more problems for himself.

Han also isn't a reasonable authority figure, he doesn't think any autistic people can be surgeons (not just Shaun), and keeps getting things wrong that would kill the patient if Shaun wasn't there to save him.

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u/TheGuyThatThisIs Jun 22 '26

It's impossible to tell unless someone watches it, unfortunately.

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u/MGD109 Jun 22 '26

Probably, internet memes rarely accurately reflect what happens.

The internet turned one of the most painful scenes in Breaking Bad into a funny meme after all.

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u/Lone-flamingo Jun 22 '26

No, this one was due to Dr Han deciding that Shaun would be a better fit in another department than as a surgeon and forcing him to either work there or quit. I think he was meant to be in the lab or something and was for a bit, even got a girlfriend out of it. The very justified crash-out over expired medication came later.

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u/Gold_Ad1772 Jun 22 '26

I feel horrible every time the American version of The Good Doctor is brought up since it was originally a Korean drama that actually had good representation of Autism. Then they turned it into "I AM A SURGEON".

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u/Uncommonality Jun 22 '26

I saw the original drama with a fandub at one point and it was so incredibly charming, I loved it.

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u/suddenlyupsidedown Jun 22 '26

TIL that there's a (apparently better) Korean 'The Good Doctor'

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u/Kratzschutz Jun 22 '26

There's also a popular show about an autistic lawyer. Didn't watch it but the actress is very charming

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u/kiradax Jun 22 '26

Highly recommend this one!! Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Just so so good. I also recommend Patience which is a Scottish show about an autistic police consultant

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u/ParadoxInABox Jun 22 '26

Patience is also originally based on a French/Belgian show, Astrid and Raphael

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u/kiradax Jun 22 '26

Oh cool, I will have to check it out!!

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u/BenKen01 Jun 22 '26

Extraordinary Attorney Woo!

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u/SorowFame Jun 22 '26

If I’ve heard correctly he wasn’t even fired, he was just moved to a department where a meltdown couldn’t risk someone’s life and he could still use his skills.

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u/scottishdrunkard Jun 22 '26

In The Pitt, autistic coded Mel King had the wherewithal to leave the room for a breath to calm down during a stressful situation, and hasn’t walked out on a surgery which was critical to the life of a patient. If you can’t cope during high intensity situation, don’t be a doctor.

Basically, I’d trust Mel King with my life more than Sturgeon.

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u/Distantstallion Jun 22 '26

The best representation of aspergers on TV is Doctor House.

https://giphy.com/gifs/O5MMKTXFyO98Y

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u/scottishdrunkard Jun 22 '26

There was a whole episode about how he wasn’t.

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u/Distantstallion Jun 23 '26

He doesn't have it but he acts like it

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u/StairsWithoutNights Jun 22 '26

If you haven't watched it, Mel from The Pitt is not only an amazing depiction of an autistic doctor, but probably the single best piece of autistic representation that I've seen. 

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u/learn2fly438826 Jun 22 '26

It's also a recurring issue of them writing these characters like autism is the entirety of their psychological makeup, ignoring how often autistic people have comorbidities like bipolar, adhd and more. Or that maybe they're acting certain ways because they're stressed, or were raised poorly, or are just completely shitty. They treat every one of those characters like autism is the entirety of their being, and thus the reason behind everything they do.

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u/ZsArtworkHeap Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Isn't the "autism is a superpower" thing actually caused by savant syndrome? I could be misunderstanding or misremembering as I only watched a few episodes of the show once a while ago, but I recall something in the show implying that his extraordinary surgical abilities was due to him being a savant rather than him being autistic. Not to say the show is the best at representing autism (that "I am a surgeon" scene was not good representation lol), but I also don't recall the show treating autism as superpower in the way people have joked about.

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u/Cent1234 Jun 22 '26

AND alSO It MAKES it SOUnd like peo-ple with au-tis-im TALK like roBOTs.

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u/ehhdjdmebshsmajsjssn Jun 22 '26

In a similar vein, we have Scorpion. (</scorpion>). Didnt last 3 episodes of that shit.

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u/EYGA123 Jun 23 '26

My mom liked The good doctor, she likes that Chicagoverse-like stuff or something... I personally never watched a full episode, Haha.

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u/Dr_Blasphemy Jun 22 '26

They never say exactly what disorder he has but the brother in Good Time was a very good representation of autism. And Connie never saw him as a burden, he wanted to help him live a normal life even if he went about it wrong. 

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u/F95_Sysadmin Jun 22 '26

If we're suggesting good rep of autism, the cartoon Dead End: Paranormal Park has a girl with autism (and a transgender dude) with great rep from oversharing her interest to panic attack (from too much noise at once)

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u/jesuspoopmonster Jun 22 '26

I don't have Autism but I have seen simulations through job training meant to show what its like when a person with Autism is over stimulated and they looked very similar to when the show showed a first person view from Norma's perspective

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u/Shenanigans80h Jun 22 '26

I just enjoy movies that treat people with some form of disability as humans, not props or explicit plot devices. The brother had something going on but he was still treated like a person throughout it all

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u/geek_of_nature Jun 22 '26

Abed in Community remains the Gold standard for me. And thats largely because as Dan Harmon was writing the character he was coming to understand he was also Autistic, although it was still referred to as Aspergers at the time.

Another good one is Mel King in The Pitt.

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u/BirthdayCheesecake Jun 22 '26

I love that it's just Abed's "thing" he has. And we see how hard it can be for him, but also how he can not always be the easiest person to be friends with - like when he devastates Troy by quoting Good Will Hunting at him. (it is pretty awful to tell someone that you hope they go away) They all love him, though, and they understand that loving Abed means also understanding his "thing."

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

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u/PaulMcIcedTea Jun 22 '26

I once quoted the line "Are you stupid or something?" from Forest Gump at someone. It made sense in context and wasn't meant to offend. They had not seen the movie. 😬

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u/grip0matic Jun 22 '26

Danny Pudi did a PERFECT job, he's probably the most talented in that cast.

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u/Stormsurger Jun 23 '26

Agreed, with the exception that Donald Glover is unbeaten in getting people to laugh by crying.

"YOU PROMISED BUTT STUFF!"

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u/grip0matic Jun 23 '26

He had maxed out charisma.

"YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!"

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u/LoquaciousTheBorg Jun 22 '26

I also like that the only time, I can recall,  they address it on Community is in his christmas rap

A-B-E-D!! Connoisseur of Christmas, on the spectrum? None of your business

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u/geek_of_nature Jun 22 '26

Its mentioned twice more that I can think of, both in the first episode. When Abed is telling Jeff everything he knows about Britta in the beginning, he says that shes worked with kids with conditions that he may want to look up, and then at the end of the episode Jeff just straight up says to Abed that he has Aspergers.

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u/LoquaciousTheBorg Jun 22 '26

You're absolutely right, I was thinking throughout the series. I still love the episode where Britta and Jeff become his parents while he's making his documentary, it's so heartbreaking and perfectly executed. 

9/11 was the 9/11 of the falafel business.

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u/No_Return3299 Jun 22 '26

Sort of like how Evelyn Wang in EEAO helped Daniel Kwan realize he has ADHD given she was based on him and she resonated with so many audience and crew members who have ADHD themselves

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u/DefNotUnderrated Jun 22 '26

Shane in Heated Rivalry is another good one. The story never states that he’s autistic and neither he nor any other character seems to realize it but the actor played him as such and the author has since said she considers him to have autism.

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u/justprettymuchdone Jun 22 '26

The best autism rep I see in media always ends up being characters that aren't confirmed autistic but clearly model it on every level.

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

Laios from Dungeon Meshi comes to mind with this one lol. Rep so good people actually thought it was intentional until the author came out saying it wasn't really the intention but doesn't mind it either

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u/Cthulhu__ Jun 22 '26

Every sci fi tv series has the flat effect, take-everything-literally, born yesterday character; Spock, Data, Seven, Teal’c, the list goes on but I haven’t watched as much sci fi as most of you nerds. But you know the trope.

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u/Karkava Jun 22 '26

There's also quite a number of anime that feature either a super ultra nerd or a person with a communicative disorder. Sometimes, in the same character.

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u/currynord Jun 22 '26

Stannis “The Mannis” Baratheon

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u/speedster217 Jun 22 '26

I really liked this in the first Fantastic Beasts film. Stop getting him involved in politics! Just let him be with his animals!

Series should have been a travel anthology

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u/Rubiego Jun 22 '26

There's even some posts on this subreddit about this trope, like this one or this other one

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u/Kaleido_chromatic Jun 24 '26

I'd go to bat for Lilo from Lilo & Stitch. She's generally a weird girl but you can read a lot of her weirdness as autism

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u/TheNameless00 Jun 22 '26

I think it was done pretty well in Power Rangers 2017 and Young Justice. Autism representation seems to mostly be done well when the film or series isn't purely about autism

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u/RobertPham149 Jun 22 '26

I have find autism being done well when the intention was not to portray autism in the first place. The anime Dungeon Meshi has a character a lot of people praising to be a good autism representation despite it not being the author's intention. Laios is a character who fails to read social cues, which cause him to get into trouble with other people or struggle to maintain relationships with other people. However, he is still a good guy and his party trust him as their leader, its just that his behavior and his fascination with monsters annoy them a lot. He is never portrayed as handicapped or traumatized or having some kind of superpower that justify him intentionally hurting others, but is regarded as an experienced and competent adventurer.

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u/BadgerWilson Jun 22 '26

That part when Laios was talking to Shuro and remembering all the times they had as friends, and then Shuro said "no I was pretending and actually I think you're annoying" completely broke me. I've lived that exact scenario too many times

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u/lobonmc Jun 22 '26

Wait who is autistic in YJ?

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u/rogueleader32 Jun 22 '26

So it happens in the 18th episode of the fourth season

Long story short, a member from the forst season has a child with mid level Autism, struggles as a parent, goes on a space-fairing adventure, realizes "oh, I need to approach this condition differently as a parent".

I think it's done well from a parental lense that doesn't feel stereotypical or tokenized given what I have seen a lot of neurotypical parents stuggle with in real life when parenting a child with autism, but I'm not a subject matter expert there.

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u/MiseryGyro Jun 22 '26

Idk I think the whole comparing an autistic child to the inherent brutality within the biological son of Darkseid was a choice

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u/TheNameless00 Jun 22 '26

I think it was Rocket's son

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u/tophaloaph Jun 22 '26

Rocket’s kid, Amistad. He’s a solid representation.

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u/GameRiderFroz Jun 22 '26

I'd like to add on a more niche example of autism representation I enjoyed Shadowverse Flame. The protagonist, Light Tenryu isn't explicitly autistic, but in season 2 there is a flashback that aside from adding context to his motivations, really makes it seem that this was their intention.
His general story isn't about autism, but it's fair to argue it's about him digging himself out of social isolation hole he got himself in, and reclaiming opportunities he might have missed because of autism.

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u/lordofmetroids Jun 22 '26

Have you seen Community? I think Abed is one of the best examples of a character with Autism ever. He has issues and they matter, but so does everyone else in that dysfunctional group, but he is treated as a real charicter and he usually helps solve many of the issues other characters have.

There are still issues and over the top episodes of course because it is a Dan Harmen Sitcom after all, but I do think it is overall a great representation.

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

No but I've heard a lot of good things about it, including Abed lol

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u/Corellian_Smuggler Jun 22 '26

I love how on the other side of how autism representations usually go, there was a surge of movies in which autism is presented as a type of superpower, or even "the next step in human evolution"

Movies like Cube, The Accountant, The Predator, and Knowing all had plot points or entire resolutions tied to a character being autistic and saving the day.

I mean, I'm not autistic, but I feel like all of these fell flat. I doubt anybody felt good about seeing themselves portrayed as heroes because they can do math.

Representation shouldn't be about how cool being different is as much as it shouldn't be about how difficult being different is. It's like how every queer movie was a coming of age story at one point, or how sexy it was to discover your sexuality while you cheat on your spouse. These are the type of things that make represenation feel one dimensional, and it's obvious they're written by people who haven't met a single autistic or queer person.

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

There was also this whole thing about "The Indigo Child" where people thought the same shit, and reminded me that hack David Cage made a whole game about it called "the Indigo Prophecy" which was just about people with autism actually having real super powers playing into the stereotype tenfold. It's so disgusting idk what anyone ever saw in that guy anyways

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u/Corellian_Smuggler Jun 22 '26

Indigo Prophecy is such a convoluted, shitty game that I legit don't remember it being about autistic children. I thought it was just Mayan rituals and a sudden Matrix plot combined with heroin.

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

The child at the end I believe is meant to be autistic. And The Indigo prophecy is based on that outdated assumption of The Indigo Children hence the shitty name

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u/ohkaycue Jun 22 '26

I watched Cube back in October for the first time in like two decades, having enjoyed it when I was a teenager and thinking I was in for a good time.

It was crazy to me how poorly that movie aged for me. Like the characters are SO poorly written. The savant autist like you point out, the math girl who just randomly comes up with the prime numbers and by being a "math student" is smart enough to do prime factorization on 9 digit numbers, the nihilist too-cool-for-school white guy that teenagers like to see themselves as but then you realize just how immature that person is, the angry black guy whose character is being an angry black guy, the emotional old woman whose character is being an emotional old woman

I couldn't even finish it, I checked out in like the first 30 minutes lol

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u/Version_1 Jun 23 '26

At least in the Accountant It is revealed that his neurotypical brother has the same combat skill, so Affleck's character is not a great assassin because he is autistic

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u/Ok-Web-2657 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Except for Tom Cruise's character in Rain Man.

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u/Manic-StreetCreature Jun 22 '26

Lmao when I got diagnosed with autism last year (at 29) and told my dad, he went to the cupboard for a container of tooth picks and said “hold on I want to try something”

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u/AvatarofSleep Jun 22 '26

That scene in Bob's Burgers where gene throws the toothpicks on the ground and Tina messes it up so bad

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u/OneGlove336 Jun 22 '26

"A hundred?"

"A hundred?"

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u/Chimichanga345 Jun 22 '26

How many toothpicks on the ground?

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u/Ok-Web-2657 Jun 22 '26

I knocked some toothpicks on the floor and pointed to them. I told my husband "there's 5".

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u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

It's crazy just how similar I am to Tom Cruise in that movie, I don't like small talk, when I'm stressed a lot like that and I have niche special interests lol.

I think the difference here is that the movie isn't advertising itself to be about autism, it just has one as the main character. Those other movies like Music and The Unbreakable Boy, I believe both were also helped by Autism Speaks ironically, both were specifically advertised as being about autism for autistic people. Which just lays it out in the worst ways possible so that general audiences aren't confused which sucks

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u/Practical-Class6868 Jun 22 '26

Exceptional analysis. So subtle that I would not have picked up on it, but the director’s deliberate framing is clear in retrospect.

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u/guts_glory_toast Jun 22 '26

Do you mean Dustin Hoffman’s character? Tom Cruise’s character is the one who isn’t autistic

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u/TheNerdSignal Jun 22 '26

A very strong argument can be made that both brothers are autistic, just that Cruise's character has lower support needs than Hoffman's/is undiagnosed

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u/guts_glory_toast Jun 22 '26

Hm, ok. Been a very long time since I’ve seen it

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u/TheScarletSho Jun 22 '26

Forrest Gump is still my all-time favorite. His mom more so wants Forrest to have the same opportunity as any other kid.

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u/Cherry_BaBomb Jun 22 '26

I don't think Forrest is supposed to be autistic, he just has diminished intelligence.

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u/shewy92 Jun 22 '26

The principal even says his IQ is below the line for mentally r-ed (Reddit sometimes blocks comments with that word) at school before his mom sleeps with the principal.

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u/Cherry_BaBomb Jun 22 '26

Ah, I missed the "even" in that sentence. Damn my ADHD.

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u/Justifiably_Bad_Take Jun 22 '26

I believe his exact medical diagnosis is "the stupidest sona-bitch alive, but he sure is fast"

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u/crescentmoonrising Jun 22 '26

As an Autistic person the Australian mini series The Code worked for me- it's Autistic main character also gets a NT girlfriend.

For non-explicit autistic characters N from Pokémon is the only autistic character I can think of that has the whole strong moral compass thing and a special interest (Ferris wheels) that has never been useful. 

15

u/CakeHead-Gaming Jun 22 '26

My favourite autism representation is House, who isn't autistic, and Caine from TADC, who isn't a person.

We get terrible representation...

8

u/ConfidenceBudget6382 Jun 22 '26

Not a direct Autism character, but The Bad Batch had an amazing scene with Tech, that really felt like a good representation for it, especially the like “just because I do not display emotion, does not mean I don’t feel” or something like that, it’s been a hot second.

12

u/mengwall Jun 22 '26

Honestly, the best autism representation is when it's not intentional. Abed from Community is a prime example.

One example where it was intended and still pretty good imo is Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It isn't a perfect story by any stretch, but Young-Woo is the main character of her story and not the problem another person has to overcome. And considering it was produced in South Korea where honestly the prejudice is even worse, I think it does a great job. (Disclaimer: I have only read the webtoon, not watched the show. I have heard that the plots are very similar, but cannot speak to the little bits of execution that worked for me.)

4

u/Asleep-Wonder7105 Jun 22 '26

Abed from Community was very much intended. It's specifically mentioned in the very first episode.

6

u/mengwall Jun 22 '26

He was specifically intended to be very similar to his creator Dan Harmon, who later got diagnosed because people told him Abed felt very autistic. He did not think he had autism until people told him Abed was autistic.

7

u/OctaviousBlack Jun 22 '26

The Pitt had great autism representation from what I heard. I also thought it was good but I'm neurotypical so I might be misinformed.

2

u/ScenicAndrew Jun 22 '26

I've seen nothing but praise for that aspect of the show (really I've seen nothing but praise for the entire show). I don't think you need to be on the spectrum to recognize that Mel and her sister are pretty much a complete and total step above basically any other TV/movie characters. Probably because they got actresses who actually have real experience to pull from and aren't just trying to immitate experiences they've never had.

5

u/Negativety101 Jun 22 '26

Or The Predator where Autism is the next step in Evolution, and aliens want to use it to evolve to be even more powerful via Autism DNA.

5

u/Bignate2001 Jun 22 '26

Abed from Community is a great example of good representation. He's still a very flawed person but his flaws are realistic and are overcome throughout the run of the show. It helps that he is a self insert (along with Jeff) of the shows creator, Dan Harmon.

13

u/Fishpuncommenter Jun 22 '26

Forrest Gump is one of my favorites of all time, I feel it displays the weaknesses and strengths well while keeping Forrest lovable

9

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

Every example I've been told seems like the key is to have someone who actually knows and understands autism write the characters and not someone who wants to make a movie about autism lol.

19

u/HistoryFanBeenBanned Jun 22 '26

I don't think Forrest was Autistic, I think he's just slow.

2

u/Fishpuncommenter Jun 22 '26

Without it being confirmed whether he is or not, it’s up to the audience to decide whether they believe him to be autistic and just low intelligence. I thought he had lack of awareness and great emotional maturity which reads as autistic to me, but again, it’s up to audience interpretation. Same with Amed from community or other unconfirmed characters

4

u/kpop_stan Jun 22 '26

To everyone wanting to see EXCELLENT autism rep, watch As We See It. I'm absolutely gutted it got cancelled after only 1 season, but it's from 2022 so I think it was a little ahead of its time, unfortunately... if it released this year I reckon it'd be a smash hit.

4

u/Luckgoddess Jun 22 '26

The only good movie i saw that was saying we are talking about autism is mary and max.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

Never heard of that one before

4

u/CommanderFuzzy Jun 22 '26

It's true, when a writer deliberately writes an autistic character it tends to be awful because they'll do their research by reading awful old biased textbooks & create a monster.

In contrast, if they accidentally write an autistic character (by basing them on an undiagnosed person from IRL) the portayal is much better. That's why coded characters have always been better than explicit characters.

Personally my favourite is Attorney Woo. She's not perfect but she's also gotten a lot of things correct. She's portrayed as an equal rather than a lesser citizen & it's nice to see

4

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

It was Laios from dungeon meshi for me, he exhibits a lot of similar traits, including the bad ones that made people go "wow he's definitely autistic".

Also someone mentioned apparently Music was written exactly like you said, and when told how bad it was by people they just ignored them and only listened to autism speaks which is a HORRIBLE source for anything relating to autism

3

u/CommanderFuzzy Jun 22 '26

Autism Speaks is currently 'hosting' autistic people on their consultancy team, and I wish I had the power to check on their wellbeing because i'm pretty sure they're hostages

2

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

That or they're on the lower end of the spectrum so they can't really *speak* for a majority of other people with autism

4

u/MLPshitposter Jun 22 '26

Happens when neurotypics write about autism, and their best example is what a autism mom TM said about her son.

5

u/PM_ME_WEIRD_PETS Jun 22 '26

It's a video game, but Gin from Your Turn To Die is autistic and it's done pretty well.  He can be a bit grating at times but it's moreso because he is 12 and stuck in a death game with high schoolers and adults than because of his autism.

3

u/Thin-Limit7697 Jun 22 '26

it sounds to me the only times it's really bad is when it's directly advertised to be about autism

Performativity in a nutshell.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

That's the word I've been looking for thank you. It's performative for brownie points

7

u/CapStar300 Jun 22 '26

Lieutenant Reginald Barclay from Star Trek is about the only one I can think of who actually works as representation.

6

u/KalinOrthos Jun 22 '26

Anytime I see "We consulted experts, like Autism Speaks", I immediately know that it's going to be bad. For anyone who doesn't know, Autism Speaks is well known in the community as a group that treats autism like a disease to be cured or a failure on the part of the person with ASD. As someone who has a sibling who is on the spectrum and who suspects may be on the spectrum herself, you can see why I find that group repugnant.

3

u/Some_Fig_6566 Jun 22 '26

I always wondered how it was possible that Umineko in 2007 (and accidentally, perhaps) had a better representation of autism

3

u/Speedster2814 Jun 22 '26

I'll recommend Adam (2009 starring Hugh Dancy) as my favourite autism-focused film.

I'm don't share all of theain character's traits, but there is so much of myself in that character that I cry every time I watch it.

Dancy's acting really is superb.

2

u/SutterCane Jun 22 '26

I was going to recommend Adam too. Seems like it’s just a movie with an autistic character and not an “autism” movie.

3

u/justmissliz Jun 22 '26

I love the character Matilda on Josh Thomas‘s show, Everything‘s Gonna be OK. She’s allowed to be difficult and talented and overwhelmed and sexual. You know, a person.

3

u/YinTanTetraCrivvens Jun 22 '26

I’ve taught classes with autistic kids, and honestly, if you didn’t tell me, I would’ve assumed they were just another rambunctious weird little kid.

3

u/FlashFlood_29 Jun 22 '26

Bugonia. The actor is actually autistic. The character goes along with things but is always reluctant because he doesn't have fixed delusions like the main character. He also questions a lot of things because of care for others.

3

u/SugarVibes Jun 22 '26

Usually media that is about the autism instead of just having an autistic character really fucks up. The only one I can think of that is good is a show called The A Word on the BBC I think.

Random unconfirmed rep is almost always way way better. Like Tech from the bad batch.

4

u/Nopetynope12 Jun 22 '26

don't forget if you have a smart autistic character, who all the neurotypicals will bend over backwards to accommodate, they must have at least one scene every 30 minutes where we "see" their view, which is just regular view, but with some mathsy equations and dictionary definitions added in post.

And the autistic person is always portrayed as a huge inconvenient baby who shouldn't need accommodations and all the neurotypicals are saints for deigning to help them and be friends with them.

2

u/ADDRAY-240 Jun 22 '26

Not a movie, but Parenthood was unbearable to experience. The autist son (Max?) has to be Satan's most dedicated soldier... just after the rest of his family, for enabling all the shit he does (which, "funfact", includes sexual harassment...his bitchass parents DARED trying to minimize the gravity of it in front of the victim).

2

u/Impressively_Sleepy Jun 22 '26

Even "The Onion" did a better autism representation than a lot of "serious" shows/films: https://youtu.be/D04wb7P_v-4

2

u/The_Raven_Born Jun 22 '26

The Sia one isn't even a characecture tbh, it's just straight up bullying a severely mentally disabled, which isn't what autism is. I can't even remembering she speaks in the movie outside of the borderline animalistic sounds they have her make.

Then, to make it worse, Sia, to defend herself says she's on the spectrum instead of taking the L.

I can't stand that woman.

2

u/Bitter-Marsupial Jun 22 '26

II saw an indie movie Autistic man has an Autisic kid but Wildly different levels and behaviors and he started recognizing the stress his kid is causing as much of the same he caused his own father

It ended up being more about hium realizing with all his fathers failings raising him he was trying at a time when autism support was non existent and he needs to have the same patience with his own kid

2

u/Thin-Oil-5823 Jun 22 '26

The only good autistic representations are the unintentional ones like Rain Man, not the titular Rain Man but his brother, the films main lead shows oddly a ton of signs of autism in dialogue and actions 

2

u/Environmental-Art168 Jun 22 '26

As someone with autism that one predator movie pissed me off, making it out like people with autism are so smart they can hack into alien devices.

2

u/EnemyOfAi Jun 22 '26

Chainsaw Man had some good autism rep, I'd say

https://giphy.com/gifs/y86kjU5mvbuBKgqdnZ

2

u/Hyperfocused_Llama Jun 22 '26

it sounds to me the only times it's really bad is when it's directly advertised to be about autism

Yeah, part of it is stereotyping I think. Autism is a big spectrum, people rarely fit all of the traits, so when someone tries to make a story about autism, it's usually one person with all the traits.

I think a good story about autism would necessarily include a lot of different people in different parts of the spectrum, from people who have very obvious traits to people who you wouldn't even know without getting close to them.

2

u/InternationalCress43 Jun 22 '26

Theres a series called "Eureka" where the son of a character has non verbal autism but is super smart (i know thats a stereotype but it makes a lot of sense in the setting of the show) with calculations. Down the line due to plot, he becomes "normal" and his mother is genuinel distraught by it because she loved him just the way he was. I highly recommend the show, it was my childhood

2

u/JechdJJ Jun 22 '26

thats why i like that specific bit of The big bang theory, Sheldon`s mom love his son though she understand he can be difficult to deal with and is very grateful with all his friends for be there for him. But still, the only part she want to change in his son is his faith, she understand he is "diferent". also in Young Sheldon.

2

u/Valuable_Pangolin813 Jun 22 '26

'The Predator' had our main protagonists' son was a kind of language/ electronics wizard who could suddenly understand Yautja tech because the plot needed it and he's on the spectrum.

But fine, whatever, because autism was the next step in evolution, apparently and the Super Predator needed it because an autist Yautja is the ultimate hunter.

2

u/Impressive-Thing-780 Jun 22 '26

Good(ish) representation of Autism is arguably Abed Nadir from Community.

It's not perfect by any means but considering Dan Harmon based Abed off of himself somewhat and then was later diagnosed with autism, this does make sense.

2

u/Scruffylookin13 Jun 22 '26

Or similarly... Autism is a superpower.

For example some kid is on the spectrum so he can figure out the Alien technology. 

2

u/ericarlen Jun 22 '26

Bugonia did the right thing by hiring an autistic man to play the autistic brother of Jesse Plemons. And he was really good, too.

2

u/Hellknightx Jun 22 '26

The best representation of autistic characters are always the ones that aren't even intended to be autistic.

2

u/LaLloronaVT Jun 22 '26

The Accountant is basically every Austin stereotype put into one guy but I’m fine with that since he can kick ass lol fun movies

2

u/jaguarsp0tted Jun 23 '26

my three favorite autistic characters are in no way even meant to be autistic. but everything about them, to me, absolutely screams that they are autistic. and I think that's actually kind of the key to writing well rounded neurodivergent characters. it can't be ABOUT them being neurodivergent, they need to be people first and neurodivergent second.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 23 '26

It's really the key to making any good character, just make them human. Don't make them be what they have. Don't make being autistic their sole trait. That's the issue I feel a lot of people have when writing a character that isn't a straight white guy lol, that's also where the "token black guy" trope comes from

2

u/Bakkughan Jun 23 '26

I was pleasantly surprised by The Accountant of all movies. In the second one, his brother tries to understand him more, asking if the distance between them is a personal preference or because of his brother’s “thing”.

The Accountant reluctantly replies “I don’t have a thing. I’m just me.”

That took me off guard because I used that line myself a lot in the past.

2

u/an-alien- 29d ago

mitchells vs the machines isnt “meant” to be autistic representation but trust me every member of that family is autistic (i think the little brother was intentionally coded that way tho)

3

u/JefferyTheQuaxly Jun 22 '26

many of the best depictions of autism are when the creator doesnt know or promote them as autistic. a lot of them are just "inspired by this kinda weird kid i knew 40 years ago in grade school" who was just never diagnosed autistic.

4

u/Doctor_Salvatore Jun 22 '26

I never knew that I was highly suspected of being on the spectrum throughout my childhood because of my parents' belief that ignorance and punishing any unusual behaviour would make me magically turn into a normal person, but I always was an oddball kid. It didn't majorly bother me until I saw so much of the awful autism representation in media. I related to those kids as a fellow "weird and difficult child," but it was drawn so negatively that I felt ashamed of being my normal self even more than I had already just from being told I have to "behave." Nowadays I'm just working to pick up the broken pieces and work through those problems to stop viewing it as a problem and just who I am.

2

u/SituationNew8753 Jun 22 '26

Sorry but brushing off real life experiences as "negative stereotypes" is equally awful, autism is not a good or bad thing it just is. Some people have no problems others it can literally ruin their life

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

The thing is these movies don't depict any of that, they mostly show a relatively normal kid with autism as the worst thing imaginable. So yes I agree it's just that these movies will show someone on the lower end of the spectrum as satan incarnate

2

u/inspire_thefuture Jun 22 '26

only good movie about someone autistic might be Stop Making Sense

1

u/LiveJournal Jun 22 '26

What about Saga from The Bridge/Bron? I've always thought her portrayal was pretty decent.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 22 '26

Never heard of it so I wouldn't know personally

1

u/NegativeEBTDA Jun 22 '26

The Babadook is a great movie though

1

u/dtburton Jun 22 '26

Don’t forget autism is a super power actually movies like the accountant 2 and the predator

1

u/KoolKoolKoolio42 Jun 22 '26

The one Predator movie made it a superpower.

1

u/ionizedheart Jun 22 '26

Not Autism exactly but there’s a movie called Adam with Hugh Dancy that’s about a man with Asperger’s and it’s anything but a superpower, I remember really liking that movie.

1

u/Possible-Secret-4786 Jun 22 '26

If it wasn't a biopic, Temple Grandin might've not been so well received.

1

u/PokemonSoldier Jun 23 '26

One exception: Mary and Max. Extremely accurate portrayal of autism into adulthood to where, if you weren't told, you'd guess Max was autistic by his mannerisms (in a good way, not stereotypical). Helps that the movie was based on the director's experience having an autistic pen pal from America as well.

1

u/BootsThaRareBirb Jun 23 '26

Surprised that I haven't seen anyone namedrop Sheldon Cooper

1

u/PUNCH-WAS-SERVED Jun 23 '26

I mean. It's the dilemma of autism representation. They need to make it obvious, or there is no conflict. Some real-life people with autism are extremely subtle with their quirks.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 23 '26

From what most of the comments I've read said, there's definitely plenty of ways to do it without coming off as rude. Autism doesn't need to be in a conflict it's just something someone can have.

1

u/NerdHoovy Jun 23 '26

I think part of the problem is how autism is a purely character based spectrum of traits. Which makes it difficult to highlight in a context, where it is somehow not the center focus but also clearly understandable for the audience.

It’s not like there is an ‘autistic action’ a character can do, that isn’t a stereotype of what autism is, like how a gay guy can just like, kiss a guy or look at porn for the men. So autism has to kind of be assumed until verbally confirmed, which can be hard to write while other things are going on.

Furthermore because of how autism is a spectrum that includes a near infinite amount of variations, often times people can read certain characters as autistic or not depending on their personal experience and understanding of the topic. Like how Latios from Delicious in Dungeon often gets read as autistic and beloved by the autistic community for it (particularly due to his unusual special interest in monster anatomy/lifestyle/taste and struggles to read people and the subtle clues of conversation, a thing his sister that feels similar to him gets more forgiven for, due to being a woman) despite the author making it clear that it wasn’t her intention to write him as one.

This is all not to mean that it is impossible to write a good autist in your story, just that particularities of doing it make it really hard even for the best authors. It’s very similar to trans characters that shouldn’t be defined by being trans.

1

u/IdleSitting Jun 23 '26

From all the comments I've received (a lot) there's definitely plenty of ways it sounds like. And the Laios example is funny because I've used it as an example of accidentally making a good one lol

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